"Movies aren't about what they're about, but how they're about it." - some guy

_________________The temptation is to like what you should like--not what you do like... another temptation is to come up with an interesting reason for liking it that may not actually be the reason you like it.

Sat Apr 27, 2013 10:35 pm

MGamesCook

Director

Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:44 pmPosts: 1806

Re: Last Movie You Watched

Ken wrote:

"Movies aren't about what they're about, but how they're about it." - some guy

Hitchcock

Sat Apr 27, 2013 11:17 pm

Ken

Director

Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2012 6:26 pmPosts: 1743

Re: Last Movie You Watched

George Washington.

_________________The temptation is to like what you should like--not what you do like... another temptation is to come up with an interesting reason for liking it that may not actually be the reason you like it.

Sat Apr 27, 2013 11:22 pm

Shade2

Second Unit Director

Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2012 2:49 amPosts: 456

Re: Last Movie You Watched

MGamesCook wrote:

Ken wrote:

"Movies aren't about what they're about, but how they're about it." - some guy

Long ago, someone said to me "you can't experience the good without the bad". For movies, this would suggest that you couldn't appreciate a good film if you had never seen a bad one. Of course that turned out to be total BS. It is like saying you can't immediately enjoy chocolate, unless you'd first tried turds.But anyway, I went for the full "Feast" experience by watching the whole trilogy, and it was predictably pretty bad (but amazingly not atrocious). These are low-budget monster movies, with bad effects, bad acting, bad editing, and bad dialogue. The first one is the "best" (I believe that it even had a theatrical release), the second two are direct to DVD and are clearly significantly lower in budget and also less fun (the titles notwithstanding).I rate them 5/10, 3/10 and 4/10 respectively. The Feast films have not opened my eyes in any way to appreciate obviously superior films any better. I should have known better .

Sun Apr 28, 2013 3:39 am

Vexer

Auteur

Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2012 12:02 pmPosts: 3605Location: Zion, IL

Re: Last Movie You Watched

I wasn't too thrilled with the "Feast" films either, JB actually did review the first one and gave it 0 stars.

Sun Apr 28, 2013 3:49 am

MGamesCook

Director

Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:44 pmPosts: 1806

Re: Last Movie You Watched

Quote:

Pretty sure Roger Ebert...

Ebert did well to confirm a notion that was already extensively discussed by Hitchcock, and probably others before him.

Sun Apr 28, 2013 4:59 am

ilovemovies

Producer

Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 11:04 amPosts: 2258

Re: Last Movie You Watched

Scary Movie V

This movie was directed by Malcolm D. Lee and yes, he's related to Spike Lee. Clearly none of Spike's talents has translated into this guy.

I give this 1/2 star out of 4. It just surpassed Lords of Salem as the worst film of 2013 so far.

They never explain Charlie Sheen's appearance in this, since his character was "killed" in Scary Movie 4. It was also especially sad to see the once talented Lindsay Lohan in this movie. Any shred of dignity both of them might have had left (in terms of talent) is completely gone now. They are both total hasbeens.

I never thought Lindsay Lohan would ever actually make a movie worse than I Know Who Killed Me. I was wrong.

Sun Apr 28, 2013 7:56 am

ilovemovies

Producer

Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 11:04 amPosts: 2258

Re: Last Movie You Watched

Vexer wrote:

I wasn't too thrilled with the "Feast" films either, JB actually did review the first one and gave it 0 stars.

I agreed with James. I don't give many Zero Stars. It's extremely rare for me. A "0" is even more rare than a "10". But Feast earns that "0". It's downright unwatchable. And it came out in 2006, where I had a second "0" which went to Nacho Libre. Ugh.

Feast came to us from HBO/Bravo's Project Greenlight. The 3rd season. Season 1 gave us what I thought was a real gem of a movie called Stolen Summer. A very sweet and underrated film. Season 2 gave us The Battle of Shaker Heights which stars Shai Lebouf. It's not as good as Stolen Summer, but I still liked it a lot.

I'm still waiting for Season 3 of Project Greenlight on DVD. Does anybody know if it ever came out?

Sun Apr 28, 2013 8:03 am

JamesKunz

Critic

Joined: Wed Jul 29, 2009 9:35 amPosts: 6252Location: Easton, MD

Re: Last Movie You Watched

ilovemovies wrote:

Scary Movie V

This movie was directed by Malcolm D. Lee and yes, he's related to Spike Lee. Clearly none of Spike's talents has translated into this guy.

I give this 1/2 star out of 4. It just surpassed Lords of Salem as the worst film of 2013 so far.

They never explain Charlie Sheen's appearance in this, since his character was "killed" in Scary Movie 4. It was also especially sad to see the once talented Lindsay Lohan in this movie. Any shred of dignity both of them might have had left (in terms of talent) is completely gone now. They are both total hasbeens.

I never thought Lindsay Lohan would ever actually make a movie worse than I Know Who Killed Me. I was wrong.

I can't believe we're actually discussing the internal continuity of the Scary Movie franchise, but while his character was killed in the fourth one, he is playing himself in this one so it's all good.

_________________I'm lithe and fierce as a tiger

Sun Apr 28, 2013 9:01 am

Sexual Chocolate

Director

Joined: Sun Jun 20, 2010 4:04 pmPosts: 1754Location: New Hampshire

Re: Last Movie You Watched

Slap Shot

I watched this for the first time in a long time last night. The premise is very funny; a hockey team on the verge of folding decides to start playing dirty in order to win and up their attendance. And for the first half, this film is very, very funny. It doesn't maintain that level of humor throughout, though, which is a shame. However, it's still worth a watch for those who haven't seen it, since it features Paul Newman playing a bit against type. He did once say that out of all the films he ever made, Slap Shot was his favorite.

_________________Death is pretty finalI'm collecting vinylI'm gonna DJ at the end of the world.

Sun Apr 28, 2013 9:13 am

Ken

Director

Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2012 6:26 pmPosts: 1743

Re: Last Movie You Watched

ilovemovies wrote:

Feast came to us from HBO/Bravo's Project Greenlight. The 3rd season. Season 1 gave us what I thought was a real gem of a movie called Stolen Summer. A very sweet and underrated film. Season 2 gave us The Battle of Shaker Heights which stars Shai Lebouf. It's not as good as Stolen Summer, but I still liked it a lot.

I'm still waiting for Season 3 of Project Greenlight on DVD. Does anybody know if it ever came out?

Ah, the only season of Project Greenlight I ever watched.

The funny thing is--and every film student I've ever talked to can probably corroborate this--the first project that any rookie film class ever attempts is a horror short. A bad horror short. Bravo basically commemorated this phenomenon with airtime and a (relatively) big budget.

_________________The temptation is to like what you should like--not what you do like... another temptation is to come up with an interesting reason for liking it that may not actually be the reason you like it.

Sun Apr 28, 2013 10:11 am

Vexer

Auteur

Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2012 12:02 pmPosts: 3605Location: Zion, IL

Re: Last Movie You Watched

ilovemovies wrote:

Scary Movie V

This movie was directed by Malcolm D. Lee and yes, he's related to Spike Lee. Clearly none of Spike's talents has translated into this guy.

I give this 1/2 star out of 4. It just surpassed Lords of Salem as the worst film of 2013 so far.

They never explain Charlie Sheen's appearance in this, since his character was "killed" in Scary Movie 4. It was also especially sad to see the once talented Lindsay Lohan in this movie. Any shred of dignity both of them might have had left (in terms of talent) is completely gone now. They are both total hasbeens.

I never thought Lindsay Lohan would ever actually make a movie worse than I Know Who Killed Me. I was wrong.

I actually quite enjoyed "I Know Who Killed Me", I thought it was a pretty interesting film. Anyways Scary Movie 5 looks pretty funny and i'll definitely be seeing it on DVD. I certianly would never say Sheen and Lohan have lost "dignity" just by appearing in the film, they're not "has beens" at all IMO(Lindsay still has that film "The Canyons" directed by none other then Paul Schrader, coming out later this summer, can't wait to see that) but they aren't exactly getting a lot of movie offers, so I can't really blame them for not passing up to appear in the film.

Sun Apr 28, 2013 1:40 pm

Sexual Chocolate

Director

Joined: Sun Jun 20, 2010 4:04 pmPosts: 1754Location: New Hampshire

Re: Last Movie You Watched

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

I'm a bit torn about this film. I love its look, and seeing Alan Rickman being awesome as usual, plus Dustin Hoffman not totally mailing it in is pretty awesome. But it doesn't quite have a dramatic peak, and the end is an advertisement for Axe Body Spray. Granted, this is better than most mainstream films, and I admire director Tom Tykwer's audacity in trying to adapt challenging material. He would knock it out of the park with Cloud Atlas a little later on.

_________________Death is pretty finalI'm collecting vinylI'm gonna DJ at the end of the world.

Sun Apr 28, 2013 9:31 pm

Syd Henderson

Director

Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:35 amPosts: 1727

Re: Last Movie You Watched

Sexual Chocolate wrote:

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

I'm a bit torn about this film. I love its look, and seeing Alan Rickman being awesome as usual, plus Dustin Hoffman not totally mailing it in is pretty awesome. But it doesn't quite have a dramatic peak, and the end is an advertisement for Axe Body Spray. Granted, this is better than most mainstream films, and I admire director Tom Tykwer's audacity in trying to adapt challenging material. He would knock it out of the park with Cloud Atlas a little later on.

I loved the book, but it depended heavily on the protagonist's sense of smell, which would be hard to communicate on the screen unless they brought back Smell-O-Vision.

_________________Evil does not wear a bonnet!--Mr. Tinkles

Sun Apr 28, 2013 10:34 pm

Unke

Second Unit Director

Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2012 1:45 pmPosts: 474

Re: Last Movie You Watched

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)Having seen the first and the two last ones, I didn't have much of a desire to complete watching the Twilight series. As it happened, 'Eclipse' was on TV and I was mildly interested, because British film critic Mark Kermode called it the best of the series. This is correct, but not saying much at all. In my opinion, it's all right for watching it on the side while cleaning up the living room/ doing the dishes/ ironing shirts/ filing your tax returns. 4/10

Faust (1926)F.W. Murnau's silent movie version of the medieval German tale about alchemist Dr. Faustus, who makes a pact with Mephisto, the Devil (Emil Jannings). The images in this expressionist film are memorable and have influenced all subsequent fantasy and horror movies. The silent movie style suits the material well. 'Faust' is not as good as the other movies directed by Murnau, though (having seen 'Nosferatu', 'The Last Laugh', 'Sunrise' and 'Tabu'). Still, a good movie. 7/10

Syd Henderson wrote:

Sexual Chocolate wrote:

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

I'm a bit torn about this film. I love its look, and seeing Alan Rickman being awesome as usual, plus Dustin Hoffman not totally mailing it in is pretty awesome. But it doesn't quite have a dramatic peak, and the end is an advertisement for Axe Body Spray. Granted, this is better than most mainstream films, and I admire director Tom Tykwer's audacity in trying to adapt challenging material. He would knock it out of the park with Cloud Atlas a little later on.

I loved the book, but it depended heavily on the protagonist's sense of smell, which would be hard to communicate on the screen unless they brought back Smell-O-Vision.

I think they did a good job of translating this to the screen. It's a good movie but not as good as the book.

Mon Apr 29, 2013 3:25 am

PeachyPete

Cinematographer

Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2012 8:09 pmPosts: 644

Re: Last Movie You Watched

Pain and Gain

Who knew that Michael freaking Bay would be the guy to infuse pop culture with a little perspective? It's a movie that mostly works as an over the top, roided out commentary on The American Dream, where hard work is preached, but short cuts abound. It's far from perfect, but it's a film where Bay's typical style matches the substance of the story, and it ends up being a pretty good combination of dark comedy and heavy-handed social commentary.

By far the most interesting thing about the picture is how Bay uses the film to riff on himself. Sure, it takes someone with an incredible ego to think they not only are worthy of being riffed on, but that they should do it themselves. That ego, however, doesn't make the resulting film any less intelligent. I was reminded of Tom Sizemore's Jack Scagnetti in Natural Born Killers who pens the book Scagnetti on Scagnetti. For all intents and purposes Bay's doing the same thing here, just with a bit more cleverness.

He's made a movie that looks like a Michael Bay film (and everything that entails) and turned it completely on its head. Phrases like "a soulless abomination of cinema" , or "a nihilistic journey into the minds of idiotic robots" are pretty common descriptors of Bay's films, when all he's really doing is making escapist fiction that's normally kind of bad. This time out he works with a story based in reality, made on a (for him) small budget, that's about people who truly are soulless and nihilistic. In other words, he's made an anti-Michael Bay film...except it's still a Michael Bay film.

The result is a lesson in perspective. Escapist entertainment is just that, nothing more, and "A Michael Bay Film" can be anything. The two aren't joined at the hip and one really has little to do with the other despite their convergences. In a film community where Bay is frequently singled out as someone who's ruining movies, I can get behind his lashing out with this movie, and the accompanying pretension required to believe one guy making escapist entertainment is even possible of such a thing. This is Michael Bay working as an artist - a director capable of commenting on the nasty side of The American Dream while simultaneously attacking his own critics.

So the film itself might not be the best thing you'll see this year. You might even think it's terrible. That's ok. Quality and art aren't joined at the hip, either.

Mon Apr 29, 2013 10:32 am

Syd Henderson

Director

Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:35 amPosts: 1727

Re: Last Movie You Watched

Miranda: 1948 English comedy in which a doctor takes a fishing trip away from his wife, and catches and is caught by mermaid Miranda (Glynis Johns), who takes him to her (strangely well-lit) underwater cave and won't release him until he promised to take her on a one month tour of London. So she's disguised as a paraplegic, which gives her the chance to be carried by muscular young men, none of whom catch on that there's something fishy about her. (The maid finds it odd that Miranda sleeps in a cold bath.) The doctor realizes he's going to need someone else to help, so hires eccentric nurse Margaret Rutherford, letting her in on the secret, which the nurse naturally takes in stride. Soon Miranda is winning the hearts of young men and infuriating their young women.

This is lightweight but reasonably funny, and Johns is really beautiful and flirty as Miranda. Johns and Rutherford are particularly good together. I would like to have seen more of them, and apparently other people felt the same, because they were reunited in the sequel to the movie. (6.5 of 10.)

The main problem with this, is that it isn't as good as the book, but now that slice of trite obviousness is out of the way, we can actually take a look -

1984 does a number of things very well indeed. The washed out look achieved by Roger Deakins (who wanted to film in black and white orginally) is about right for the feel of this particular interpretation. John Hurt's Winston Smith is uncanny. He nails it dead centre. The thing about 1984 is that I read the book long before I ever watched the film, so I obviously had a few ideas of how things should be represented in my own mind (in fact a film fantasy of mine would be to remake it with a blockbuster budget). Hurt really captures the downtrodden, physically abused, and emotionally crushed intellectual victim of the regime. Burton is in fine creepy form for the last role of his life. The thing that really stood out for me was Mr Charrington's shop, which is so alike how I mentally pictured it I have to wonder if I had seen this movie years ago and blanked it from my memory.

The film is a superficial success. Things look and feel more-or-less how they should, and the performances are strong throughout. My main problem with this adaptation is it misses, for the vast part, my favourite part of the book. The book-within-a-book, "The Theory and Practice of Oligarchial Collectivism" which in the film Winton reads but gives the viewer no inight to its contents. This part of the story is not only fascinating, but in my view completely essential to Orwell's explaination of how and why this dystopia works the way it does.

1984 doesn't make sense without the explaination of the world that if offers. Without it, we are expected to take a leap of faith as to how and why the world operates the way it does. With it, the unlikely events of the 3 superstates being in perpetual (non) conflict actually seem strangely plausible. What any film adaptation of 1984 needs is a half-hour montage to accompany Winston's absorbing of the information within. I can only guess that Winston's detailed reading of it would prove mostly unfilmable on the kind of budget and with the kind of technology they had nearly 30 years ago. But its exclusion leaves a gaping chasm in an otherwise worthwhile project.

_________________... because I'm a wild animal

Tue Apr 30, 2013 4:20 am

peng

Director

Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2012 10:42 pmPosts: 1362Location: Bangkok

Re: Last Movie You Watched

I recently got Dances with Wolves as a gift, which I've never seen before (but only heard in comparison with Avatar). It contains both the theatrical version and the extended cut. What version do you guys recommend for first-time watch?

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